This Week In Tennis
Season 2, Vol 15

​#ThisWeekInTennisrecaps the tennis happenings of the last week via news reports, social media, featured articles, rankings, and podcasts.

Photo: Albert Gea/Reuters

RUNDOWN
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Maria Sharapova returned to the WTA last week after completing a 15-month doping ban. The recipient of a controversial wildcard in Stuttgart, Sharapova reached the semifinals before falling to French no. 1 Kiki Mladenovic.

Rafael Nadal won the Barcelona Open for a record tenth time last week. The Spaniard equaled the record he set two weeks ago in Monte Carlo, where he also triumphed for a tenth time. Nadal defeated a resurgent Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1 in the Barcelona final.

Wild card Laura Siegemund beat Kiki Mladenovic for her biggest career title in Stuttgart. Last year's finalist, Siegemund went one better by beating a who's who of WTA talent, including Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Playing in his second career final, Aljaz Bedene came up one round shy of claiming his first ATP Tour title in Budapest. Bedene was also, once again, the target of xenophobic attacks from countryman Dan Evans.

Kiki Mladenovic's stellar 2017 campaign continued in Stuttgart, beating Maria Sharapova in the semifinals on her comeback, before losing to Siegemund in the final.

Kimiko Date returns to the WTA in Gifu, the site of her initial return to tennis in 2008. The former world number four, now 46 years old, is returning from double knee surgery last year.